The Carters give new meaning to the phrase “Best of the Best.” Urban Music’s reigning King & Queen, Beyonce and Jay-Z, brought On The Run 2 (OTRII) to the DMV and I can now die happy. What an incredible production!

DC’s FedEx Field was only the second stop on the OTRII World Tour U.S. leg, but the entire 4-hour long production was flawless. God even cooperated with the team as rain was in the forecast and the skies did crack, but only for a little just before the show began.

By the time openers, Chloe x Halle took the stage to perform selections from their debut album “The Two of Us” and March 2018 follow up “The Kids Are Alright,” the sun had come back out and clouds had passed. These two young women kept that same energy dancing around the stage and playing the electric piano and electric guitar dripping in Beyonce’s Ivy Park athletics collection.

After a brief intermission (or dope photo opp in front of the massive, 3-panel LED monitor on stage that reads “OTR” before the sun went down) DJ Khaled brought high energy to the stage. “I’m going to light this place up like it’s New Year’s Eve,” the Miami-based hitmaker declared, and he lived up to the hype. Before a host of surprise acts joined him on stage, we got to watch DJ Khaled scratch and mix our favorite party jams. (Who has ever seen DJ Khaled actually DJ?! He’s lit!)

Once the crowd was up and partying, Khaled upped the ante and brought out DC artists Grammy-nominated Goldlink, Legendary DJ Kool (the voice behind “Let Me Clear My Throat,”) and The Wire actor Anwan “Big G” Glover and Weensy of Backyard Band. Just to sweeten the pot, Bad Boy torch runner rapper King Combs also came out to perform current single “Love You Better” featuring DMV native Chris Brown as a bonus surprise.

Now for the main event. For all intensive purposes, OTRII is a live action movie! Beyonce and Jay-Z are the heroes with a story arc including a beginning (the excitement of newness, adventure, mystery) middle (trouble, crime, infidelity, heartache) and end (freedom, family, perseverance, real love.) The series of videos between sets help to tie together the well-placed songs to paint a vivid picture of love and life. The special effects like pyrotechnics, moving stage, and detailed nuances kept the crowd’s senses engaged and thoroughly entertained.

I was a little disappointed that there were no Everything is Love performances except for “Ape Shit” as the final song, but it was pretty cool to take a journey through time and see just how many hits Jay-Z and Beyonce have made together and independently.

I had a ball watching Beyonce’s dancers kill the choreography to songs like “Crazy in Love” or “Formation.” (Hi, Ashley!) The live band was incredible too, dancing in the 9 panes between the graphics screens. Fun fact: The female guitarist who held down the solo to “I Care” is a DMV native too. Ms. Ariel O’Neal killed it!

OTRII was so amazing that words barely do it justice, so enjoy these images from official tour photographer Ravie B.

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DC night 1 & 2. I’m still in awe at the production of this whole thing. Grateful and Constantly inspired! PHILLY & NEW YORK UP NEXT!

A post shared by Raven B. Varona (@ravieb) on Jul 29, 2018 at 1:45pm PDT